STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. -- Faith Thompson has lived in the Arlington Terrace Apartments for 29 years, and she's had to deal with mice scampering through her kitchen, mold growing on her walls and, once, an electrical outlet that caught fire before her eyes.

"There's one over here, in the corner. That's the latest hole that popped up. You can see the powder on the floor from what the mice ate," the 53-year-old Ms. Thompson says, pointing to a mouse hole in the corner of the bedroom of her 13th-floor apartment at 35 Holland Ave., one of the buildings in the Mariners Harbor complex.

"There's another one that just came back in the kitchen by the stove," she adds.

Complaints like hers are fairly common at the 535-unit apartment complex in Mariners Harbor, where, in addition to dealing with the steady presence of crime and violence, residents also contend with vermin, leaky walls, lead paint and overall deterioration.

Many residents hope -- as do elected officials and community leaders -- that a pending change in ownership and an extensive rehabilitation project will improve living conditions at the Arlington Terrace Apartments.

HUNDREDS OF VIOLATIONS

As it currently stands, a search of the city Housing Preservation and Development department's website shows 864 open violations throughout the complex's eight buildings -- nearly 90 of them "Class C," or immediately hazardous.

Those 864 violations include roach and mice infestations, peeling lead paint, broken and leaky pipes and missing smoke detectors.

One violation states that the front entrance to 35 Holland Ave. has been inadequately lit since July 2009. Another, dating back to February 2005, reports a "broken or defective locking device" at the vestibule door of that same building's first-story public hall.

HPD violations at the Arlington Terrace Apartments are nothing new.

In January 2005, the Advance and elected officials visited the complex and found a chronic lack of heat and hot water, as well as apartments covered in mold and filth and, in one instance, a water-soaked bedroom.

Many violations date back to the 1980s.

The Arlington Terrace Apartments were built in 1975 under the state's Mitchell-Lama program.

Named for two state senators, the program was created in 1955 to spur production of low- and middle-income housing by offering developers low-interest mortgages and generous tax abatements. To qualify for Mitchell-Lama apartments, tenants must not exceed certain income levels.

LEAD PAINT

Deanna Richards says she moved into her two-bedroom apartment on the third floor of 55 Holland Ave. in October, along with her four children, ages 2 to 12. Though she says she doesn't receive Section 8 assistance, the rent was affordable - almost $900 a month, she says.

Within a week, she says, the ceiling of her living room started leaking water.

"I had to keep reporting about the leak, because it was leaking over my electrical [outlet], right there," she says. Within a couple of weeks, she says, city officials showed up, and found a bigger problem -- lead paint around her radiator.

The lead paint wasn't removed until about June, she says.

"It still took months after for them to come and fix it, and that was after reports of having my [2-year-old] daughter here," Ms. Richards says.

The buildings are currently owned by North Shore Plaza Association LP and managed by Grenadier Realty. A spokeswoman for Grenadier did not respond to questions seeking comment for this story.

The complex's owners are also listed as Howland Hook Housing Co. in some city public records.

But the current owners appear to be on their way out.

OWNERSHIP CHANGE COMING

According to HPD spokesman Eric Bederman, the Manhattan-based Preservation Development Partners is poised to purchase the complex, funded in part by a city financing deal that will likely close by year's end.

The firm specializes in preserving and rehabilitating affordable housing complexes, extending their affordability contracts in the process, Bederman says.

"We're a finance agency. So we provide funding to developers and non-profits for the creation and preservation of affordable housing. In return for our financing the developer has to enter into regulatory agreements that lock in the affordability of the complex," Bederman says.

"In this case, the tenants' rent, the tenants shouldn't be seeing an increase in the amount they pay, so it's going to keep it affordable to low-income tenants, and it's going to extend the property's Mitchell-Lama commitment for another 30 years."

He couldn't put a dollar amount on the financing deal, noting it hasn't been finalized.

RENOVATIONS PLANNED

The new owners are planning major renovations, including a new electrical system, new boilers, encapsulated rooftops, new lighting, rehabilitated common areas, new trash compactors, and fixes inside the apartments themselves, including possibly new bathrooms and kitchens, Bederman says.

The firm will also look at the complex's accessibility, "the entrances and exits, sort of maybe rework those as well as re-planning the way there's movement through the property that makes it more tenant-friendly," Bederman says.

"The rehab is going to involve a pretty comprehensive scope of work, and it's going to address the violations on the property," he says.

Following that article's publication, Community Board 1 drafted a letter to Grenadier Realty, asking the company to work more closely with the NYPD, hire better security, and address the myriad HPD violations.

"Recent events centered within your Holland Avenue complex have caused fear, anger and unease in the neighborhood," the letter reads.

Community Board 1 chair Leticia Remauro says she looks forward to the change in ownership.

"The open building violations are quite distressing to us... It's things like telephones not working in elevators. The lights, the exterior lighting being out is quite distressing to us," she says. "These are all signs of, or components of, things that create a danger for the tenants."

COUNCILWOMAN'S RESPONSE

City Councilwoman Debi Rose (D-North Shore) also says she welcomes a change in ownership.

"In the last year, we have had difficulty dealing with the current property managers," she says. "Tenants complain that property managers are rude and unresponsive, and we cannot get answers from them on simple matters, such as where a potential tenant is on a waiting list."

In a lengthy statement released by her office, Ms. Rose says she visited the complex earlier this month, and met with children who pointed out the playground in the complex's courtyard was locked, its equipment broken.

"In the middle of summer, when most children are outside playing, these children had no place to play," she says.

This photo taken July 17 shows the shut Arlington Terrace Apartments playground surrounded by a construction fence. (Staten Island Advance)

The playground has since been repaired and reopened.

"With the help of interested community partners, we were able to get the playground opened within a week and have the equipment fixed, but serious problems remain inside the building," Ms. Rose says.

She calls on the new owners to resolve the open HPD violations, open up the community rooms on the ground floor, improve lighting fixtures around the building and install security cameras. She also says she's bringing the problems at Arlington Terrace "to the forefront of discussion at the North Shore Safety Task Force -- a group that brings the NYPD together with community leaders for bimonthly meetings."

MOLD AND MICE

Ms. Thompson hopes the new ownership will mean she'll be able to live in a mold-free, mouse-free apartment. Work crews came in this past June to fix the electrical systems for everyone on her floor.

She moved in at age 18, she says, and remains because she can't afford to live anywhere else because of her disabilities.

"If I didn't have disabilities, I'd have been gone," she says, describing an array of herniations, cysts and growths.

Still, she says, she tries to take care of her apartment, painting the walls in bright blue and yellow, and doing additional repairs, even though that work means she'll suffer pain later on.

Her apartment is the source of 20 open HPD violations, including mold violations dating back to 2011.

"Under the sheet rock here is black mold but I painted over it, but if somebody opened it, I would think you would need a HAZMAT," she says. "You can smell a funky sour smell? That's the mold that you're smelling."

About three years ago, she says, mold from the living room got into her dreadlocks and caused fungal growths on her scalp, forcing her to cut her hair.

"The biggest problem to me is management, not the crime," Ms. Thompson says of the complex. "The thing is, if you have a people living in substandard conditions, emotionally they begin to act substandard."